AN INDUSTRY IN CRISIS
Under the current Federal Government, support for the arts has plummeted. Shadow Arts Minister Tony Burke explains what can and should be done to revive our industry, including extending JobKeeper to provide an interim safety net for workers in the sector.
I don’t normally talk about the arts in terms of jobs and dollars. For me, that’s a given — the work of artists, performers and everyone else who make the industry possible goes deeper. Art tells our stories, changes how we feel, and reaches and teaches our hearts and minds about ourselves and each other.
The Morrison Government isn’t only ignoring the fact that arts and entertainment workers have a special role in our community. It’s much worse than that. They aren’t treating people in the sector like workers at all.
After years of funding cuts, the sector went into the current crisis already vulnerable. Earlier this year, just before COVID-19 took hold, the government abolished the department responsible for arts funding and policy, rolling it into the department responsible for roads and railways. Even so, I’ve been stunned by their apparent willingness to sit by and do nothing while an entire industry crumbles.
I should have known they’d be unmoved by arguments that weren’t about money: that Australia’s artists are a vital part of our social fabric and our nation’s soul; they enrich our lives; they tell our stories, and make us laugh and cry and dance; they shape, interpret and reflect our national identity; and when Australia goes through a crisis like the recent bushfires, typically we turn to them for comfort, and ask them to donate their time and talent.
But I’m still shocked they’ve been equally unmoved by my economic appeals. This industry is worth an estimated $111 billion a year. It employs hundreds of thousands of Australian workers. It helps drive other industries, too, like tourism and hospitality. It’s an important part of our economy. But they’ve done next to nothing.
In mid-March, just as the impact of COVID-19 was becoming clear — as government restrictions were forcing concerts and plays, TV and film productions to be shut down — I called for a major, dedicated support package.
No such package has arrived.
Labor then called for a wage subsidy. The government finally announced JobKeeper at the end of March but designed it in such a way that it excludes most arts and entertainment workers. This is a sector dominated by sole traders, independents, freelancers and self-employed people — and actors, given the gig-to-gig nature of their work, are among the most obviously excluded.
If you wanted to design a wage subsidy to cut out as many people as possible in the arts and entertainment sector, your answer would be JobKeeper in its present form.
On top of this, the Morrison Government decided in the middle of the crisis to suspend local-content quotas for new Australian drama, documentary and children’s programs, delivering another blow to the screen sector. Perhaps the most disturbing part of that announcement was Arts Minister Paul Fletcher’s description of content obligations as “red tape”.
Quotas have been a central driver of the production of Australian stories for years. Dismissing them as mere red tape highlights an appalling lack of understanding from the minister, who is meant to be advocating in Cabinet for the arts and creative industries.
The change to content rules, which Labor opposed, must only be a temporary measure.
Ultimately, it’s hard to escape the conclusion that this is a deliberate attack on an industry.
Labor would have handled it very differently. We value our artists and our entertainers and everyone behind the scenes who makes performance possible. Maybe that’s cold comfort, but it’s true.
We know that many working artists, including actors, are not well-paid. They eke out an existence, moving from one insecure job to another, from show to show, because they love what they do and they love to entertain. We know that they need our support, just like every other worker. It’s a craft, a trade, a profession. It shouldn’t be treated like a hobby.
Australia is starting, tentatively, to emerge from the health emergency that caused this economic crisis. But let’s be honest: the arts and entertainment sector will be the last to return to normal. It will be a long time before Australians are going back to live shows. It will be a long time, too, before TV and film production is back to where it was.
We’ve repeatedly called on the government to extend JobKeeper so it reaches more people in the arts and entertainment sector. This can be done by better targeting the money that’s already there.
The government has indicated it may move to recalibrate the scheme. As they do, we will be advocating for you. We will continue, as well, to advocate for a dedicated support package to get this industry back on its feet.
I have faith in the resilience and creativity of our artists. But the idea that those driven to create will always find a way is false — they need to earn a living. And right now, they need our support.
We have to ask ourselves: once the crisis is over, what will Australia look like if our arts sector is gone? That’s a future Labor isn’t willing to accept.
Tony Burke is an Australian Labor Party politician serving as Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Shadow Minister for the Arts, and Manager of Opposition Business.
